The Surfer, Alicia, Frankie and Firelord appeared in orbit over
Earth. Firelord and Nova flew off into space as the Surfer and Alicia headed towards
Avengers Tower. Tarantula was waiting for them as they landed on the balcony. She quickly
told the Surfer and Alicia about Herc, that Beta Ray Bill and that Pulsar had gone to
Olympus with Reed Richards, Vision, Shadow Hunter and Wonderman. As the three entered the
conference room the three remaining FF, Cap, Iron Man, Jolly Roger, Jack Hammer and
Lioness were seated around the table, discussing their options. When the three sat the
Surfer told them of Asgard and that Firelord and Nova had gone to get some more
reinforcements. Thor finally came into the room, he had been with Hercules until he fell
asleep. Most of Thors strength had returned, but he was still off balance from the
newness of the Earthpower. After a while, Thor suddenly stood up, something had caught his
attention.

"What villainy?!" He shouted as he stormed out of the
room. The others followed him out to the balcony to see Firelord, Nova and eight other
beings come down towards the tower. The eight others with them all looked very similar.
All of them had gray skin, red blue and gold garments, and, except for their bald apparent
leader, long black hair.

"Hello Avengers." Firelord said. "May I present, the
Royal Court of Tyros. In order of birth and rank: Grantite, Krystalia, Jadzerik, Emralian,
Sulforus, Uraniphate, Opalifus, and Quartaliz."

"Children of Terrax!" Thor shouted. "I shall not
allow these offspring of evil to infect Earth!"

"Thor " The Surfer started, but was cut off.

"Listen godling." Grantite stated. "Do not think that
we will sit idly by and let you bad mouth our father. The All-Father of Tyros will not be
treated with disrespect."

"Thor "

"All-Father?? You heathens claim godhood? Prepare vile ones,
the God of Thunder will teach you what a true god is!"

"Will you thunderer? I would have thought that omnipotent
Odin would have taught his children manners. Perhaps you are merely impotent."

"Thor "

"Have at thee base one!!" With the battle cry a war hammer
exactly like Mjoliner appeared in Thors hand. In one swift motion Thor was airborne
and the hammer was thrown at Grantite, colliding with his head. Krystalia throws her hands
up and two cosmic bolts resembling throwing knives appear just long enough for her to
throw them at Thor, pushing him back. Jadzerik unsheathed his long sword and Emralian
grabbed her battle staff and pointed them at Thor, each firing waves of cosmic energy.
Sulforus pulled his war hammer, Opalifus his spear, and Quartaliz his mace, all pointing
them at Thor and firing more cosmic force. Uraniphate held out her hands and rings of
cosmic energy appeared that she then threw at Thor. Grantite righted himself and pulled
his battle ax, washing Thor in even more destructive force. The time between Thors
throw and his being surrounded and assaulted on all sides, four seconds.

"Enough!!" The Surfer shouted as he flew to Thors
side and put a shield around him. As the children of Terrax stopped their attack Thor
righted himself from the defensive position he was in and the Surfer dissipated the
shield.

"Evil most foul, thou shall not surprise me so again!" As
the hammer returned to Thor the Surfer grabbed it out of midair.

"I said enough Thor." The sternest in the Surfers voice
almost tangible. "You started this fight without provocation, and you will be the
first to apologize."

"Hast thou gone mad! These vile "

"These are friends and allies Thor. I would place my life in
the hands of any present here without pause. I know what you think of Terrax, but he is a
much different creature today than when you knew him."

"You ask much Surfer, for these beings to claim godhood is
a direct insult to myself and all righteous gods."

"What makes you righteous and not us?" Krystalia asked.
"We are worshipped on dozens of worlds, you barely are on one."

"By birth doppelganger!"

"As are we Asgardian." Emralian answered. "Almighty
Terrax saved Tyros and the Tyrosians from certain extinction. He set them on the path of
honor and vigilance, taught them the ways of peace and the joys of battle. He, along with
us, his Royal Court, protect the innocent and maintain peace amongst the worlds of the
Tyrosian Federation. We are at least as divine as you thunderer, if not more so."

"Insolent cur, I shall "

"Enough Thor." Answered the Surfer. "The simple
answer is you cannot pick and choose who is worthy of godhood and who is not. What is a
god? Really. A privilege? A right of birth? A definition of power? Is there really a
simple answer?"

"Friend Surfer, your word is good enough for me, mostly. Do you
expect me to recognize these villains as fellow gods? Am I to treat these offspring of
evil as brothers as I do Hercules?"

"Thor," Uraniphate started. "Terrax has spoken
nothing but respect of you. Though our ideologies differ, he has the utmost respect and
admiration for you. As a fellow warrior, it grieves me, and all of us, to hear you spit on
our name. Have you no honor, no respect for those who would fight side by side with you?
If not, you truly do not deserve to be a god, at least not a god of our caliber."

"Again you insult the son of Odin!"

"No Asgardian, I speak to you warrior goddess to warrior god,
equals in every sense."

"Look Surfer." Cap started. "Perhaps this is not such
a good idea."

"You too Captain?!" The Surfer looked at Captain America,
eyes burning with cosmic energy. "After all this time, a thousand years, humanity is
still so closed minded?"

"Look Surfer, Terrax ruling as a king, as a god, it sounds
quite similar to Doom. You have to understand our position."

"I understand you Captain are still unable to grasp Terrax has
changed."

"Look Surfer, I am as open minded as they get. On more than one
occasion we have let former villains into the Avengers."

"Are you?" Jolly Roger asked. "How long did it take
you to accept Hawkeyes word that his Thunderbolts were on the up and up? How many
years was it again?"

"Listen Roger " Lioness began.

"No Natasha, hes right." Cap started looking at the
ground as he spoke. "Hawkeye started out fighting Iron man, when he left the
Avengers, after years of fighting side by side with him, I just I just couldnt
shake the feeling he had gone bad from the back of my mind. I never believed it, but it
was there, and wouldnt go away. It took Jolts death before I came around. If I
had listened to Clint, if I had allowed the Avengers to help, Jolt wouldnt have
died." Cap looked at Roger, a tear falling from his eye. "Its my fault she
died, I was responsible. I accepted them after that, but the damage was done. Clint was
one of my best friends, but after the argument we had when Jolt died we didnt speak
to each other again. Thor, you and Tony have told me what he said when I died, but that
doesnt matter. He was long dead when I revived, I swore I would never let something
like that stop me from acting again. I swore another would not lose their life because of
my inability to see things the way they really are and not the way I think they are."
He looked first at the Surfer, then Grantite. "Children of Terrax, Royal Court of
Tyros, we welcome you to Earth."

Ronan was seated in his private chamber, his maidens had just
brought him his lunch and he was eating. On the screen before him was plans for the
upcoming attack on Earth. He studied and mused over every tiny detail, to fail in his part
of the plan would certainly mean death from Diykrakus. His screen suddenly beeped from an
incoming call. Annoyed he threw his plate on the floor to his side. As the maidens
scrambled to clean the mess he answered the ring.

"Mlord, I pray I havent disturbed you."

"Of course you have commander!" Ronan shouted. "What
could be so important as to disturb my meal?"

"I swear I did not know you were eating sire. Its the
Supreme Intelligence, he is on the move."

"Details Jas-Ner!" Ronan shouted as he jumped from his
couch.

"A fleet of his ships is heading for Earth, a fairly large one
at that. We estimate that they have about one third of our total fleet moving towards
Earth."

"According to the last report I was given thats every
last ship he has. Has he left his base undefended or does he have more ships than we know
about?" Ronan asked himself as much as anyone. "Send two thousand ships to his
system and five thousand ships on a intercept course. Keep one thousand here and another
two thousand at Hala."

"Sire, do you truly believe it is prudent to spread our fleet
out so thinly?"

"This is how wars are won commander. Supremor knows the bold
move wins the day as well as I. He is throwing everything he has at Earth, its the
only way he will win it. I am sending enough ships to stop him, invade his base and
protect ours. He will truly be sorry for crossing me!"